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Education for development : content and ideology in the Papua New Guinea formal education system : this thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.), Massey University

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Abstract

This study attempts an analysis of the links between formal education in Papua New Guinea (PNG) high schools with ideology and education for development. Education for development, or education which is considered socially relevant when studied against such Government documents as the Constitution, the Eight Point Plan, the 1991 Education Sector Report and the Philosophy of Education, is the goal to which content in the formal education sector should aspire in order to maximise the development potential of Papua New Guineans. In Chapter Two a content analysis of two major language texts is undertaken to ascertain whether or not their content aids in development for education. Again, one of the purposes of the study was to ascertain whether or not teaching and learning time is maximised by the incorporation of education for development or relevance content. Eighty five percent of students who leave school between Grades six and ten return to rural areas on completion of their formal studies. One of the aims of this thesis is to ascertain whether or not those students return with knowledge relevant to their post school experience. In Chapter Three, the study of Literature in PNG high schools and at Goroka Teachers College in particular, is undertaken in order to appreciate how and if the study of literature incorporates the concept of education for development. Chapter Four focuses on an appraisal of the most innovative relevance education scheme undertaken in PNG since Independence. How and why this scheme, the Secondary School Community Extension Project (SSCEP) failed has not been the subject of research since its demise occurred. Research findings in this chapter aid in an understanding of how and why this scheme failed. Chapter Five attempts an analysis of how women have fared under the formal education system. Does the formal curricula include issues pertinent to the lives of women or does the education system marginalise women despite the national objectives that women be accorded equal status and opportunities to men? In the Conclusion, Chapter Six, the underlying reason for the apparent failure or the under maximisation of education for development, is studied. That Melanesian culture and Western culture, so recently pushed by historical imperative into a forced marriage, are at the basis of an understanding of the contradictions and anomalies which characterise the subjects of analysis and discussion in the preceding chapters, serves as the central focus for an understanding of the thesis construct as a whole.